Monthly Archives: February 2019

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box of socks, February edition

28/02/2019 11:00 pm \ 6 Comments \ Carolyn

Squeaking in just under the wire, my socks for February… I only just finished them this arvo; quickly took a few pictures and hastened to write this post, toute de suite! Man; I’ve got to stop setting ridiculous deadlines for myself, like trying to fit in little projects like this around a wedding dress. A pair of socks each month? really?? what was I thinking! the wedding dress has been taking up AAAAAALLLLLLL my time… I’m really enjoying it all so much! and am very very excited to share it here once it’s finished… I’m so proud of it and think it’s looking beautiful, even half done! Just this week I’ve reached a point where I have to do another fitting with Kelly before I can do any more and she has been too busy to pop over; thus giving me a few days to do other stuff. Thus, the February socks got finished! and I also managed to squeeze in a new little sundress for myself too, hehe…

the photos above? well I snapped a nice clean sterile picture of the socks, all very neat and tidy and with no Sophie, but then she trotted over to say hi and obviously is stealing the show. ‘Ello, you booful big floooffy cushion you! “Ooose a booful girl now? What a natural!

but the socks!! My brain is all over the shop, sorry, but honestly there’s not much to say… the sophisticated mottled grey with occasional rusty splodges was the 25th and last, mystery skein I received in my Dingo Dyeworks advent calendar; the large box to be opened on Christmas Day. And I had little bit of rusty coloured wool leftover from my rag-doll Sally’s hair; Morris Empire Superwash merino 4ply, in colour 441, Rust Twist; to be exact. At first I was little lacklustre on the grey, held the rust against it and liked the combo, decided on stripes. I thought it’d make them more interesting; and it does, just a little! but I admit not by much, haha! The “leg” of the sock is two rows of the grey per one row of rust.

The pattern is my standard sock pattern, from Mum’s Patons pamphlet from the 60s, the same one I’ve used for literally ALL my other hand knitted socks.

Now I just have a few more blog posts to write on some other things I’ve snuck in lately, the sundress, and another thing, and then it’s back to the wedding dress! Eeeek! Such a whirlwind!

the box of socks!

Posted in: knitting \ Tagged: Patons knitting book C11, photobomb, socks

lilac sandals

24/02/2019 1:36 pm \ 13 Comments \ Carolyn

I’ve made some new shoes!! the easy way… by doing a workshop! 😉

Lisa of the Shoe Camaraderie came back to Perth to host more shoemaking days, which of course is rather wonderful news for an avid shoe-lover/maker like me!! I went to her inaugural Perth workshop back in August of last year, and had an absolute blast making these ivory lovelies… so of course I had to sign up again… I managed to talk Mum and Cassie into joining me this time, we went along together and all had a fabulous time… BTW though, just want to pop it in right here; the workshop was across the road from the Wild Bakery and that place is DANGEROUS!! I walked out with a nutty brownie that I’m sure must have had about 10,000 calories. I nibbled at it over a couple of days though and it was indeed worth every naughty, delectable bite 😉

Anyway! This style of my new shoes is called the Cosette, and the leather is the absolutely prettiest, most divine shade of lilac/pale blue you can imagine. Quite heavenly. When Lisa told me she had sourced it from the Fabric Store, I was just like OH OF COURSE. Such a beautiful store…. honestly, if a branch ever opened up here I would be totally broke, and staggering home with an obscene quantity of fabric ever week.

Mum made a pair of caramel Astrids, and Cassie made a pair of caramel Freyas. They both look amazing!!

these are Mum’s shoes; from her instagram

I’m just going to say it; I really really appreciate, not just that Lisa comes over here with such a cool and very fun workshop idea and a chic and elegant product, but also that she offers such a huge range of styles from which to choose. It’s pretty impressive, actually… she’s so good at keeping everyone going, explaining the steps the whole class needs to do, as well as helping individuals when you need it too… and at making absolutely sure everyone in the class ends up with a finished pair of sandals by wine and cheese time. Yes, there is wine and cheese at the finish of the class. What more could one want?!!

Obligatory progress shots…

…cutting a bazillion teeny skinny strips….

… a pair of little lilac centipedes….

I love that my name is hidden in my sandals! even though no one will ever see it, I know it’s there 😉

just admiring them on the last… nearly finished!

And done!

So, you’re supposed to let them dry for 24 hours before wearing them, but I slipped them on ultra carefully for a quick photo for instagram…. ooo I know; how very naughty! but I seriously COULD NOT resist! That heavenly colour! And then immediately slipped them right off again, stowed them reverently in their little cloth bag and dutifully allowed them to languish for a week.

Will I do another workshop if Lisa ever comes back to Perth? I expect so!!

This how I wore them today in their very first ootd, the first of many I’m sure… and even Sophie thinks they”re pretty cool! look at her checking them out with envious admiration!